Gadgetory

fractal design certainly has some really good options for cases in the mid tower range all of which carry similar design that is functional and user-friendly both the define then the arc series are designed to suit your specific needs but each case is unique in its own way so the latest addition to the arc series is the midi r2 which takes the internal options from the define r4 and an exterior look of the arc mini and released at 120 dollars I feel this case is priced appropriately to be competing with fractal design themselves and other high-end mid towers and flaws we can appreciate the simplicity of the case the midi r2 is very subtle in its appearance with a hint of fancy for that aluminum looking plastic front panel now the use of plastic is highly welcomed as it reduces the cost of the case and to be honest this aluminum disguise is very believable now we have two five in the quarter inch drive base with a removable dust filter right below it's very convenient for cleaning without having to remove the entire panel and we have a single 140 millimeter front intake included with dual fan mounting options available now the fans are attached directly to the panel which makes it a breeze to install and the r2 features a very nice acrylic window with a slightly darkish tint and it's very clean to complement the rest of the design and look in the back we have some venting holes for the top and exhaust fan seven PCI slots with an additional vertical one for accessories and they bottom out the power supply now the case stands on good solid rubberized case feet to absorb any vibrations and this is where a large duel dust filter is attached covering the power supply area and an optional bottom intake all the connections are placed at the top with an included three speed fan controller for three fans two USB 3 ports power and reset buttons and of course your audio jacks the top mesh is completely removable simply with two thumb screws it acts as a dust filter and can easily be taint now the top fam configuration provides plenty of fan mounting options a good variety to choose from to suit your needs but one clever consideration is the offset of your dual 120 and 140 millimeter fan mounts away from the center and closer to the side panel this is especially useful for installation of dual 120 millimeter radiators that may otherwise have clearance issues with high motherboards now the internal scene looks familiar keeping an identical layout as with the define r4 first we get to optical base at the top followed by a modular cage system for your drives the top cage can be rotated to allow additional airflow to penetrate to the inside or remove completely if you don't require any additional storage the drive caddies are not tools but nevertheless are a lot sturdier than the common plastic brackets we've seen on many competing cases now there are four grommets for your 3.5 inch drives to absorb any vibrations and SSDs are mounted in the middle now when it comes to the bottom drive cage we also get a few options that will allow a little bit more clearance for that front radiator first you have to remove the rails from the top of the cage which is a little inconvenient but it is not a deal-breaker but then the cage can be mounted slightly farther away from the front allowing optimal room for a radiator to be installed while having plenty of clearance for your power supply and the other option is to mount it even further away on the spot of the optional bottom intake in case of a really thick radiator so we have about six inches of room of clearance for the second position and about four and a half inches for the first position so the bottom optional intake fan can house both standards fan sizes and that will become unusable if you do decide to reposition the bottom cage now overall it's a good set of options to allow two dual radiators to be installed without any hassle on the front and the other for the top and coming around to the back we get a decently sized CV opening however it could be bigger nice quality rubber grommets all around with cable tiny notches and one thing everyone will sure appreciate is the ample of room for all your cable needs we have an inch of room to work with so you can tidy up your build straight from the beginning also the back are mounting holes for two SSDs it's a nice consideration but a real pain if you have to reinstall them once your motherboard is in place and installing our monster or eleven half-inch GPU is not a problem even with the cage installed and it looks like 12 inch cards may also fit but it might be a little tight of course you always have the option to remove the cage completely to allow a bit more clearance now the bottom intake slot is always a concern with longer power supplies so with our 180 millimeter unit you'll still be able to mount a 120 millimeter fan so checking out our final build so no surprise there is really nothing negative to say about the middie r2 it handles really well in the airflow Department with full dust proof covers both harddrive cages are modular so you can configure them to suit your needs and there's absolutely no issues handling enthusiast hardware plus a very complimentary design to suit multiple water cooling configurations and what's the purpose of spending all that hard work on cable management if you can't show it off so I clean tinted side window is a major bonus now if we have to be picky a large CPU cut out would be nice to accommodate for a large array of motherboards and that's about the only flaw of the middie r2 so this new addition to the arc series is bound to receive a lot of attention because fractal design truly showcases their series of delivering functional and well designed cases for any user the middie r2 is the hybrid between the define r4 and the mini encompassing everything we need in the case plus giving us the opportunity to water pool without any compromises and we're giving you the hard oka Knox damn good and damn good value a word so thanks for watching I'll see you in the next